Samantala, sa parallel PH universe…
by Sankage Steno
Pangulong Duterte: Patayin mo naman ang drug dealer pero marami pa ring runners… It is an apparatus which I have to destroy both kasi … tingnan mo ang 16 million na bumoto sa ‘kin. Ang sinasabi ko, sila ang may sabi na ipapatay ko ang mga mahihirap. Alam mo ang 16M voters kahapon, talagang bullshit ang PUTANG INA nila. [Laughter] Basura talaga iyan, pati iyong eleksyon … the poor will be killed. Tingnan mo kung mag-slant.
Aywan ko but someday … hindi ko tinatakot, but someday iyong karma nila darating iyan. Talagang mga walang hiya ang mga PUTANG INANG 16M voters na iyan. Sabihin ko sa inyo, talagang walang hiya, pati iyong Dutertrolls. Because if I have the money, PUTANG INA ninyo. Nandiyan na ako sa gobyerno ngayon, and you can request any son of a bitch there sa Central Bank, tell them to get a statement. Bakit ako magbigay sa kakampi ko? If there is really a 200 million sa account ko, I will resign tomorrow. Iyan ang hamon ko sa lahat.
And if my children would get involved in corruption, I will gladly step down; iyan ang totoo. Mga botante ko, mga bullshit kayo, pati iyang Dutertrolls. Basura iyang inanu ninyo eh. Dapat may magsabi sa inyo ngayon, PUTANG INA ninyo! Sinobrahan ninyo ang kabobohan ninyo. Dapat talaga iyong—somebody should say PUTANG INA ninyo, baka takot magsabi. Purihin mo na ako nang purihin araw-araw. Pag makita kitang Dutertroll ka, sabihin kita… mukhain kita, PUTANG INA mo bastos ka.
Me, if you asked me that If I am very happy to be President? Shit, I am not. Nagsisi ako. Kasi may mga Dutertrolls pala na PUTANG INA walang alam kung hindi kasinungalingan. Ano ako eh, I do not need this at the time of my life. I’m 72, marami pa ngang speculations diyan na may sakit ako na… bakit ang lolo mo? Hindi namatay? [laughter] Gago talaga itong mga PUTANG INA. [Laughter/Applause]
Kayong mga Mocha Uson, kayong mga Sass Sassot, did your grandfather lived forever? Ulol pala kayo eh. Mabuti iyong magkababuyan na tayo dito. Eh ano, eh di magbabuyan tayo araw-araw. Bakit ba iyon bang mga lolo ninyo hindi namatay? Ang lamang lang ninyo, kasi bobo kayo. At least they died… wala man din. At the end of the day we will be all carcass. Wag ninyo akong—Kaya nga 211 billion, million? Wag na iyang billion, million, mag-resign ako sa totoo lang. Halungkatin na ninyo lahat. The life a worker of government is always open to… ako prangkahan ko kayo. Mga bastos rin kayo, sa totoo lang, iyong ginagawa ninyo kabastusan.
Eh si ako kukuha ako ng fake news araw-araw dito sa Thinking Pinoy, bastusin ko rin kayo. Ganun na lang. Pag sinabi mo editorial mo, PUTANG INA, sabihin ko PUTANG INA mo rin. [Laughter] Para tabla-tabla tayo. [Laughter] Titingnan natin. Mga mining, sus. You know I won without money. I won, ang presidente ko—ang Governor ko si Imee, si Obet Garcia sa Bataan, iyong isang sa Mindanao na mahal ko. Siyempre ang love. [Laughter] Bumaligtad siya, I got 100,000 there. Kaya between a campaign funds and love, doon kayo sa love, talagang di mawala. Wala akong—ang Congressman ko iyong si Nograles lang. Wala akong utang na loob, kaya ako PUTANG INA hirit.
That is why, if you want your country, the ideal country that you want, ngayon na! Back-up ko kayong lahat. [Applause]
Sankage Steno 
Like Pigs
I recently had a chance to watch professional butchers slaughter pigs for distribution to the local market. Despite the almost apologetic attitude they exhibited during the process, I cringed at the sight of my fellow humans causing life to ebb away from the poor animals. In order to stand the gruesome scene, I had to force myself to think of all the pork inside the meat shops and the viands that could be made from them. This helped me think of the pigs as “not like me”, effectively, albeit slightly, reducing the feeling of empathy.
After reading the title of the photo essay that recently won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography, “They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals” (PDI, April 12, 2017), it suddenly made sense to me that, despite the figures showing that many Filipinos do not condone the killing of suspected drug users and pushers, there still is a strong support for President Rodrigo Duterte.
I believe he did not create a “callous disregard for human life”. He simply found a way to make more Filipinos regard suspected drug criminals as “not like us”, thereby putting them outside the category “human life”. He provided a very effective slogan and, generally, we Filipinos somehow found a way to convince ourselves to reduce, or perhaps eradicate, our empathy towards more than 7,000 Filipinos who are in the dubious “narco list”.
Of course, the apparent propensity to regard our fellow humans as worthy of being killed could not have come solely from President Rodrigo Duterte. A big part of this collective psychological malleability is from decades of witnessing crimes due to drug use go unresolved. Post-feudal institutions that should have worked to put criminals behind bars weren’t working as they should have. Thus, when the first echoes of the Duterte presidential candidacy echoed the “change is coming” battle cry, as a nation, we were simply in a very docile mode.
But how do we put back a semblance of empathy for our “outcast” fellow citizens? Perhaps, as a previous PDI editorial had done, we need to provide names and not just numbers as we stay vigilant in this war against drugs. Perhaps, when killed suspected drug offenders cease from being numbers, when names start representing stories of financial, intellectual and spiritual poverty, when, as a nation, we can find a way to an inclusive sense of nationhood, human life will really matter.
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